Graduate Studies

Fifty years and 13,000 graduates later, Graduate Studies continues to provide important graduate programs to Northeast Wisconsin residents and beyond. Programs available have expanded beyond the one teacher preparation program offered in 1962 to include 15 masters programs, 15 certificate programs, one doctorate in nursing and more ideas and programs emerging each semester. Such advanced learning is critical for it “provides students with the advanced knowledge and skills that will secure our future intellectual leadership in the knowledge economy” according to The Path Forward: The Future of Graduate Education in the United States.

Getting the word out about our graduate programs has been a major undertaking for the Graduate Studies Office. Perhaps you have seen us at Taste of Oshkosh, Homecoming’s Tent City, Graduate School Fest, Start Here Start Now, the Employee Fair, a local career fair, or visited us online or in Dempsey. We have completed a major overhaul of our website streamlining information and updating our look. Individual programs have also updated their websites utilizing web analytics and optimizing them for key word searches. It isn’t enough to have great programs; we also need great students and partners to create the synergy and forward thinking that is the hallmark of graduate education.

With over 30 graduate program options available, learning and leadership occurs in many, many different disciplines and formats. Below is a sampling of this year’s accomplishments.

Graduate Student Association

Graduate students spent the year organizing the first ever UW Oshkosh Graduate Student Association. They became a recognized organization in September 2013.

College of Nursing

College of Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) students continue to have 100% pass rates on their respective national certification exams.

The first class of BSN to DNP students were admitted in fall 2012.

Jessica Griswold received the Nursing Research Award at Celebration of Scholarship for the poster presentation, Utilization of Adolescent Suicide Screening Tools by Primary Care Providers to Augment Early Detection of High-Risk Patients: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

College of Business

Introduced and began the first cohort for the Executive Path MBA in September 2013. The program is sixteen months in length and offered on Saturday’s in our new Appleton Executive Education Center. The first class of twenty students will graduate in December 2014.

UW Oshkosh MBA students once again participated in the Educational Testing Service (ETS) field assessment exam, ranking in the top 5 percent nationwide.

The new MS Sustainability degree offered its first courses in Spring 2013. The program is 100% online.

The newly renamed Department of Literary and Language expanded its graduate outreach efforts by collaborating with CESA #3 and CESA #5 in establishing three new cohort groups of educators working toward their 316 Reading Teacher Licensure. These cohorts join other educators in the Menominee, Sheboygan, Marinette and Lac Du Flambeau areas who are completing licensure as Reading teachers and Reading Specialists.

The Fox Valley Writing Project completed Year Three of Enhancing Learning in Subject Area Classrooms (ELSAC), a three-year project in partnership with the Appleton Area School District, funded by a grant from UW System, Wisconsin Improving Teacher Quality. It included 20 high school teacher participants from six area school districts, four FVWP teachers and three university faculty who served on the leadership team. The Fox Valley Writing Project also held the first Rural Wisconsin Writing Institute in Clintonville, WI. This institute was provided in partnership with three rural school districts. It included 12 participants a three-person leadership team.

Reading Alumni Barbara Novak has been elected as president of the Wisconsin State Reading Association. Barb becomes the tenth UW Oshkosh alumni or staff member to serve as president for the organization which is more than any other campus.

The Jeollanamdo Office of Education in the Republic of Korea is supporting 10 students through scholarships to study in the Educational Leadership program. The students, all teachers or administrators in South Korea, will spend two years in the US to complete a Master of Science in Educational Leadership degree.

Students in the Marinette area are currently enrolled in a cohort group working toward a Master of Science in Educational Leadership Degree. The 22 participants are seeking the degree as well as the Principal Licensure Certificate.

Dr. Judith Hankes developed a two-year Math Intervention program and piloted it with 28 teachers in north central Wisconsin including Wausau.

Biology student Samantha Ebert, presented Comparison of E. coli and Enterococcus concentrations using novel Quantitative PCR and traditional cultural methods at four Great Lakes Beaches at the State of the Lake and Great Lakes Beach Association Conference in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

A significant number of Psychology students published or presented with faculty members and other researchers on a wide range of topics including the following:

Mindfulness and eating: A randomized trial examining the role of mindful raisin-eating and enjoyment of typically disliked foods.

How will I judge you for spending money on treatment? The effect of perceived treatment seeking behavior on negative evaluations of those with depression.

An experiment examining mindful raisin-eating on the food enjoyment.

Evaluating the relation between psychopathy and affective empathy: Two preliminary studies.

Music choice as a sadness regulation strategy in resolved versus unresolved sad events.

Measuring utilization and effectiveness of counseling centers in the University of Wisconsin System: One year later.

A snapshot of academic functioning among university counseling center clients.

Counseling center impact on student outcomes in the UW System.

The Public Administration Department and MPA program revised the Graduate Healthcare Management Certificate, established a new partnership in its delivery with the College of Nursing, which is in addition to its partnership with College of Business, and conducted an extensive marketing campaign of the MPA program and the Graduate Healthcare Management Certificate throughout the state of Wisconsin. It also conducted and successfully recruited and hired a new faculty member, Dr. Michael Ford, from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

MPA faculty and students also contributed extensively to exploring local problems and offering solutions. Many were also award winners. A sampling of participants, projects and awards includes:

Dr. Nollenberger and with the help of MPA students conducted the Oshkosh Citizen Survey for the 5th year in a row. The survey has been used by the City to help determine the allocation of funds to the services most highly valued that citizens feel need improvements.

Cheri Stoffel, in collaboration with Dr. Anna Filipova, has won a 2013-2014 Graduate Student and Faculty Collaborative Research grant to assess university students’ binge eating and its impact on work and school productivity.

Students in Dr. Nollenberger’s Public Policy class conducted projects on contracting out landscape maintenance, a new council member orientation manual, a police department analysis, a new paid time off policy, waste and recycling options, and the feasibility of alternate fuel use for vehicles for the communities of Bayside, Princeton, Oak Creek, Fond du Lac, Siren, and Waukesha.

MPA student Nana Adjoa Coleman won the 2012-2013 Emerging Leader Scholarship issued by the National Society of Leadership and Success. She was also awarded with the 2013 Association of University Women Graduate Scholarship for Women.

MPA student Peter Curtin accepted a competitive intern position under the Waukesha City Administrator. The internship was supported by a $2,000 UWCMA Scholar Internship Grant.

MPA student and Technology Manager in the UWO College of Nursing, Michael Parks, received the University’s Outstanding Performance Award at the annual 2013 UWO Opening Day Ceremony

MPA student and UWO Police Chief Joseph LeMire received a Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the 2012 Click It or Ticket Mobilization, a Certificate for the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Mobilization, and was appointed as the Director for a Federal Bureau of Traffic Safety grant entitled Wisconsin Booze and Belts Mobilization.

MPA student Betsey Kenyon was appointed as the Advanced Program and Policy Analyst at the State of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

MPA student Chris Hardy was appointed as the Administrator of the Village of Winneconne, Wisconsin.

Dr. Karen King presented, Easy as Falling off a Log: How MPA Students Use Metaphors to Manage Employees at the 36th Annual Teaching Public Administration Conference in San Francisco, CA.
o Dr. Anna Filipova’s published, Electronic Health Records Use and Barriers and Benefits to Use in Skilled Nursing Facilities in the refereed journal Computers, Informatics, Nursing and presented a research paper on Electronic Health Records Adoption and Use in Skilled Nursing Facilities at the Gerontological Society of America’s 65th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego, CA.